Before it was the Motor City, Detroit could well have been known as the Pickle City.

"Detroit’s pickle industry ... has been growing more solid for 30 or more years,” the Free Press wrote in 1907. “Its product is known wherever a man wants a relish with his dinner."

And that was largely due to Williams Brothers Co., the home of Mr. Pickle.

In the late 1890s and early 1900s, Williams Bros. was one of the country’s largest manufacturers of fruit preserves, mince meat, pickles, salad dressings and the like. You could find its Waldorf and Dragon ketchups, Quebec maple syrup, and Williams mustard, pickles and chow chow, not only across the country, but across the Atlantic, too.

Unsurprisingly, the Williams Bros. Co. was run by three Williams brothers: William H. Williams was president; Walter H. Williams vice president and Henry Williams was secretary and treasurer. Their company was established in 1881.

Surprisingly, however, it was not a Williams who got the credit for turning the company into one of the largest picklers in the world, but one Charles S.C. Charbonneau. In fact, the company was known early on as Williams Bros. & Charbonneau.

He was known for traveling the country hawking Williams Bros.' wares, from Maine to California, and it was "through (Charbonneau's) untiring efforts, the factory was increased from a very small affair to one of the largest pickle factories in the world," the Detroit Free Press wrote May 8, 1900.

However, Charbonneau died May 7, 1900, at his home at what is now 4105 Commonwealth at age 61. In a case of off your feet, lose your name on the company masthead, the firm was organized in 1901 as the Williams Bros. of Detroit, minus the Charbonneau.

Lots of space to pack pecks of pickled peppers

Charbonneau's passing came shortly after the company's greatest achievement was built. This plant, erected in 1899 and designed by Albert E. French, had factory, offices, storehouses and shipping yards that encompassed a combined 600,000 square feet across 12 acres. In addition to the pickling and packing areas, the complex also featured separate dining rooms for male and female workers, dressing rooms with a private locker for each worker, and a fully equipped hospital in case of injury.

In 1902, the company used nearly 9 million bottles, 1.5 million tin cans, 100,000 barrels and 100,000 kegs. They had contracts for 1,000 acres of tomatoes, some 3,300 acres of cucumbers, and more than 2,000 acres of apples, peaches, berries and other fruit. Williams Bros. had branch offices at 107 Hudson St. in New York and the short-lived Trude Building in Chicago and salting houses in 22 Michigan cities, and that number soon grew to more than 40.

Five years later, in 1907, the company was pumping out 350 barrels of pickles, 30,000 bottles of preserves, 20,000 bottles of ketchup, 7 tons of mustard and 200 barrels of vinegar every single day.

The July 23, 1903, edition of the Detroit Free Press featured a glowing write-up on the company under the headline, "All over the world products of Williams Bros.' company go." It noted that "our readers should know something of the cleanliness of this great establishment, on which a dainty housewife might look with envy."

At the time, the firm regularly employed more than 600 people, and about 1,000 during seasonal times.

Mr. Pickle

In 1910, the company unveiled "Mr. Pickle of Michigan" as its mascot. Though he bears a passing resemblance to the famed Mr. Peanut, Mr. Pickle debuted six years earlier. He had a pickle for a body, a tomato for a head, and green bean arms and legs. Like Mr. Peanut, Mr. Pickle wielded a cane. He also carried a briefcase brandishing the Williams logo.

Mr. Pickle "served as the host" of the Williams Bros. annual employee basket picnic at Put-in-Bay, Ohio. The event featured games, athletics and cash prizes, and attracted around 500 people each year. The company branded it "Pickle Day at Put-In-Bay." It is not clear whether Williams Bros. had someone dress up in a custom of the pickled purveyor.

Williams Bros. finds itself in a pickle

Despite its success, Williams Bros. overextended, and went into receivership in 1916. The Security Trust Co. was appointed July 14, 1916, to oversee not only liquidation of assets, but also the continued operation of the plant. You see, when Williams Bros.’ profits were turned to, well, mince meat, it had a hefty stock of cucumbers, fruits and meats on hand. On top of that, it still had truckloads of produce still being delivered from its contracts with growers. Rather than add to the losses of the company’s creditors, these bankers-turned-picklers kept things running in hopes of selling enough product to satisfy creditors.

With the company's backlog of cucumbers, fruits and meats finally processed by May 1917, the receiver switched over to wrapping up the affairs of the corporation, which meant selling the large plant and bringing an end to the Williams Bros. name. Previously, Security Trust had sold off some 40 salting stations throughout Michigan, a large stock of product, manufacturing equipment and raw materials. Sadly, but unsurprisingly, Mr. Pickle of Michigan found no buyers.

The Detroit Free Press called the site "one of the largest and most valuable pieces of manufacturing property available in Detroit, being advantageously located as regards railroad and street car facilities and proximity to labor districts," it wrote in the March 18, 1917, edition. By this point, the 12-acre, 600,000-square-foot Williams site was whittled down to 6 acres and 300,000 square feet (the company likely sold half its land in an attempt to ward off receivership).

On June 7, 1917, the factory fell under the auctioneer's hammer, fetching $241,000 from the Flanders Realty Co. of Detroit. That’s the equivalent of about $6.5 million in 2025 valuation, when adjusted for inflation. Flanders converted it, initially, into a power and storage plant that was "occupied by a number of concerns," according to the Dec. 25, 1918, edition of the Free Press.

Part of the sprawling factory on the southwest corner of Grand River Avenue and Loraine still exists today. According to signage painted on the building, it was last used as a warehouse for surplus office furniture, but doesn’t appear to have been used in some time.